Reading Goals, and the much anticipated review of The Winter Sister!

     If you're an avid reader like me, you probably have a Goodreads account filled with hundreds or thousands of books that you want to read, a bookshelf full of books you can't stop buying, but never catch up on, maybe a stack of library books you keep renewing, or even a paper list of books you want to read. To be honest, I have all of that LOL. It keeps me organized in a few different ways, but when you want to read ALL the books, you just can never catch up. I want to know more about you guys and what you like to read and how you stay organized! Drop a comment in the comment section below and let me know which books you are most excited to get reading soon! I'm also on Instagram @beautyybyemily, and I love posting pictures of books on there! Book stacks, #shelfie 's, books you want to read for the month, etc. So you could post pictures of the books you want to read and tag me! I may share some of my favorite pictures in my story!
   
     So without anymore ado, here's the much anticipated review of The Winter Sister!


The Winter Sister by Megan Collins
     Released: Feb 5, 2019
     Read from: Feb 11, 2019 - Feb 20, 2019
     Format: print (BOTM)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     I know this book was pretty anticipated all over the internet, from the author, and by some of you. I will tell you, that I did like this book, and I did enjoy reading it the entire time so that makes it a win in my book! Click here for my review on Goodreads!



I want to keep this blog entry short, so I'm going to wait until the end of the month to provide reviews for all the other books I've read this month, in my February Overview!



What I'm Reading Now
1) Good Wives (Print- library) by Louisa May  Alcott
     Released: 1869

     Started reading: Feb 20, 2019

     The Little Women are back, but now they're grown up! Meg is married, Amy is galavanting around Europe, and Jo and Beth both still seem lost and conflicted. Where will they go next? I'm 43% of the way through. It is a lot like Little Women, so if you hated reading that book, I don't recommend this one. But if you liked it, and love the characters, give this one a try! I'm hoping to finish it or get close to finishing it tonight.

2) The Secret Garden (Ebook- Kindle app) by Frances Hodgson Burnett
     Released: 1911

     Started reading: Feb 10, 2019 (second time around, I gave up on it last fall originally)

     I loved this movie as a kid, so I was excited to read the book, but I'm finding the writing style a bit difficult. There isn't a lot of dialogue, and when there is, it's written in spelling that makes you read it with an accent which makes it a slower read. It's also on my phone, which is my leats favorite reading platform, so that makes it go even slower. I will keep trucking through. Anyone else read this book? What did you think??

3) The Last Romantics (Audiobook- scribd) by Tara Conklin
     Released: Feb 5, 2019

     Started listening: Feb 23, 2019

     I have seen this one coming up a lot on social media, and the one book blog I follow just finished it and rated it as her first 5 star book from 2019, so I'm excited for this one! Only thing is, I've barely listened to a lot of it, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to handle this narrator :/

4) Insight Guides: Hawaii

     Released: 9/1/14
     Started reading: Jan 27, 2019

   

     Because I'm going to Hawaii for my honeymoon in May and need to learn about its history and what kinds of things we get to do there!! :) I've finished reading all of the history and genera island info, as well as the chapters on the islands I'm visiting, but do plan to go back to this and read the sections on the 3 islands that we won't get to set foot on, as well as the areas of O'ahu we're not going to get to go to this time around. 

5) Lonely Planet: Discover Hawaii
     Released: Nov 21, 2017
     Started reading: Feb 21, 2019

     I finished the sections of my Inside Guides book that I need for my trip, so now I'm on to y Lonely Planet Discover book. This is one of my favorite guidebook series, so even though at this point, I'm reading about the sights in a little less detail, I like to tie it all together after reading such a detailed book as an Inside Guide. I also couldn't NOT get this book because it has something that a lot of other guidebooks don't heavily focus on: itineraries and walking tours! So I'm a fan. 

   

Early Review #2

A Seer's Daughter by B.C. Marine
     To be Released 2/10/19
     Read from: Feb 7, 2019 - Feb 10, 2019
     Format: ebook (Kindle)
     Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

     I am so excited to say that the second book I was chosen to read for early review, was one I did enjoy reading. It wasn't exactly my style of book, and I probably would never have picked it up otherwise, but I am glad I got a chance to discover a little known author from the pacific northwest. And what better timing for finishing this book this morning than today, it's release date! I looked it up and found that it is available to order at Barnes and Noble for a nice cheap price, AND there are coupon codes that pop up right now when you first visit the website so don't wait too long if you wanna grab up this book! 
     I went back and forth between reading and listening to this book on my kindle. I definitely recommend not listening to a book like this with a monotone kindle voice because it is SO easy to tune out, and I definitely missed some important details that way. 
     So our mythical world of Meriveria is the main setting for this story. It could be taking place during any time. You could manage it as a long ago past, present day, or the future. What sets it apart is the fact that at the age of 16, everyone is granted a special gift. Anywhere from invisibility, super strength or speed to reading thoughts and flying. Our two main characters, Odelia (Lia) and Kennard (Ken) were, best friends since childhood, were born on the same day, from two different areas of Meriveria. Ken is Elgathan and Lia is Vistan. Ken's parents are the king and queen of the entire kingdom. Both of their parents attend their gifting ceremony, and Ken's parents are not particularly pleased when they find out their son and Lia are both granted the gift of healing. With this gift, they are able to heal with a kiss. But it takes a lot of their energy to do so, and Ken's father, the king, is convinced that his son will catch something from someone he's trying to heal and die a premature death.
     Fast forward 6 years later, they're now both 22, and have had years of good health. They are still best friends, and have been secretly training for battle, healing each other when necessary and hiding this from everyone they know. The more time they spend together, the more attracted Lia feels toward Ken, but being a commoner, she knows she can never be with him. But there's a secret from Vist that Lia's father has keot secret from her all her life until now. Little does she know, due to an evil, deadly scheme from Ken's ancestors, the Vistan royal line was wiped out. Or so they thought. There are still remaining royals amongst them, and Lia is one of them. 
     This story takes place over a few years, and as they get older and spend more time together, falling deeper in love, eventually Ken's father does find out and pretty much imprisons Lia to a far off fort and doesn't allow her to see the light of day for months. 
     This is where the story becomes a medieval feeling adventure story with some love thrown in. How can Lia and Ken ever be together with his tyrannical father reigning over their kingdom? How can they even stay safe with the war he is waging, and forcing them to be on the front lines of to save others, but sacrificing their lives themselves? Will they be able to work together to overthrow the king and queen and take their true places as King and Queen of Meriveria? You'll have to read to find out! The book ends with a resolution, but it's the first book in a trilogy, and alludes to the problems they'll have to work through in the next few books. I didn't love the book (again, not my typical genre), but I didn't dislike it, and if I get the opportunity to read the sequels down the road I won't say no!
     I recommend this book to anyone. You don't have to be a fantasy fan to enjoy this book. It's very light on that front. And it isn't too heavy on the love front either. You spend more time just wondering how the story will ever play out. There are a lot of different characters and places they encounter to keep the story interesting, and it was a quick read. Check it out on Barnes and Noble, it's cheap, eligible for free shipping, AND there's a coupon code! Also, check out the author and some of her other works on her website: https://bcmarinebooks.com/

My First Early Review Opportunity!

     As you all know, I'm an avid reader, have an extensive Goodreads account, follow blogs, I do audiobooks and print books, and plow through them. So I started my own blog :) and decided I needed to get in on this thing I'm seeing all over book social media: people getting to read books, and write reviews, before they're released. Aka, Early Reviews. There are A LOT of publishing companies out there that do this, including big names like Penguin Random House. I, however, haven't found a way to get involved with the big names yet, but I plan to!
     In January, I was given TWO early review copies of books to be published later this year. Both in ebook form. Thanks to my wisdom tooth extraction yesterday, I had the time last night and this morning to tackle the first one, so here it is!

Tudor Rose by W.H. Doyle  
     To be Released 4/9/19
     Read from: Feb 6, 2019 - Feb 7, 2019
     Format: ebook (Kindle)
     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     So my first ever early review copy did disappoint. It's hard when we're selecting, I sort of skim through the synopses and pick whatever sounds even remotely interesting. The more books I claim, the more likely I am to win one. I re-read the synopsis to this one after reading the book and was reminded why I chose it. It did seem interesting! But there were just too many irksome things in this book for me to appreciate the story itself. Not only were those things annoying, but they kept happening.
     The book was about a couple main characters, Avis, Sybille and Rose. It was MAINLY told from Rose's point of view, but we also heard from the others, as well as a few other characters. I wasn't a fan of the random one time POV's we got from some of the supporting characters. There was literally no point in having them if we only cared about their point of view that one time. I also recall one specifically that gave us tricky information that made it seem like something big was going to happen, and then it didn't.
     So Sybille and Rose come from the countryside to live in the court of Queen Elizabeth, because Sybille was supposed to marry the son of one of the important families living there. Rose comes along as her lady-in-waiting in a way. They were supposed to be best friends, but Sybille did nothing but treat Rose like an ant under her shoe, and she also acted completely unhinged and psychotic a lot of the time. I was left sitting there thinking, "Is this girl for real?" Somehow, the three main girls get caught up in a competition from Queen Elizabeth that entails each of them throwing a big party, and the winner gets to go on some sort of trip with her as her lady-in-waiting I believe? I wasn't totally sure what the point of trying to win this championship was, even at the end when all was said and done.
     So without giving away any endings, I'll give you a few less revealing thoughts. I really hated the first chapter of this book completely. It was appalling, and totally useless for the rest of the story. We literally could've chopped it off and started the story at chapter 2 and it would've been completely fine. There is also still an insane amount of editing that needs to be done, and I wasn't even looking for problems. I was constantly finding bad sentences, such as this one: "Still Fulke wondered if his mother's advice to him advice was truly helpful." It was pretty irksome. I was also really fed up with how much the characters called each other trollops and harlots. Like really, that is not necessary ANYWHERE. And how much of this time period was even researched? Nothing seemed very realistic to me, as far as how anyone, from bum children running around on the street to the Queen,  acted, or how events were played out.
     It was a quick read, and when all was said and done, I have no idea what even happened in the end. Nothing seemed resolved. It seemed like it was alluding to a sequel (which I will definitely not be reading) to get the answers. I did not enjoy my time with this book, but I didn't despise it, and I think the only reason I didn't get to that point was because it was short and I didn't have all that much time to get there! LOL. I will give it that. It wasn't filled with as much useless, boring, setup describing scenes as a lot of books are. You know the ones I mean. They are 300-500 pages and you know you could cut out a good 100+ pages and still get the full effect of the story without the aggravation of wasted time. If you want to give it a try, I've found it available for pre-order on Barnes and Noble.
     So there you go. Hopefully I don't dislike my second early review copy as much as I disliked this one! And here's to me also early actual physical copies and books from the big name publishers!

January 2019 Overview

     Almost a week through February, and I've finally gotten a free day to sit down and write my blog post for the books I read in January. I got a wisdom tooth out this morning, so no better time like now when I'm sitting here numb with gauze in my mouth and can't do much else!

     Between both physical books and audiobooks, I read 11 books in January. Some of them you may have already read me write a little bit about, but for these monthly overview posts, it's going to be just that. An overview. With links provided to the full reviews if you want to read them, instead of needing to scroll through paragraphs and paragraphs to get to the parts you want to read. 

     January was an ok month of books. I tried a few I wouldn't usually read, I did some easy reads as well, and a few that were a continuation of a series I'd been chipping away at. Hopefully February will be a bit better! So, here we go!

Star of Shadowbrook Farm by Joanna Campbell     
     Released 1/1/92
     Read from: Dec 23, 2018- Jan 12, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     An enjoyable, quick, light and easy read about a skilled young teen horseback rider who loses her confidence after a dangerous fall. With the help of an amazing horse and a new friend at school, we watch her get the courage back to start competing and succeeding again. You can't help but root for a girl like Susan, especially after watching her deal with the typical school bully who constantly makes Susan feel bad about herself. If you like horses, and want a light read, this is a good one!

Goodreads review here.

The Total Package by Stephanie Evanovich      
     Released 3/15/16
     Read from: Dec 28, 2018- Jan 4, 2019
     Format: Overdrive Audiobook
     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     As you can tell I didn't love this one, but I didn't dislike it enough to give it 1 star. . I found it hard to get into, or to like or care about any of the characters. I felt like everything that happened to them just happened, without any buildup. This book was about the rekindling of an old flame between a now famous NFL football player who overcame a drug addiction, and a now successful sports media-woman who has a young son. It had potential. And some may like it better than I did. 

Goodreads review here.

The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: A Pilgrim Boy by Ann Rinaldi   
     Released 7/1/00
     Read from: Jan 2, 2019- Jan 5, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     This is a fictional journal of a 14yr old orphan boy who comes to MA on the Mayflower. He gets to meet many of the local Native Americans, and is even based off a real boy who helped form an alliance between the pilgrims and the typically belligerent Nauset indian tribe. I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and thought it did a good job tying in a lot of education and real life events both in the story and in the Historical Notes at the end. Definitely recommend for fans of history if you're looking for an easy read right now.

Goodreads review here.

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs 
     Released 10/2/18
     Read from: Jan 4, 2019- Jan 12, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook
     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     This book is the 4th installment in the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series. I was beginning to lose interest in the series, but I need to finish them once I start them. This one peeked my interest a little more because they were spending time in modern day and semi modern day America, which I thought was a fun twist from the really mythical events that were happening all over time from their base in England. I think lovers of this series will continue to love it with this book.

Goodreads review here.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Henricks & Sarah Pekkanen  
     Released 1/8/19
     Read from: Jan 6, 2019- Jan 17, 2019
     Format: Print (BOTM)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     This was a much anticipated book for January. It is grouped as a psychological thriller that gives you the point of view of Jessica, a 26 year old makeup artist who sneaks her was into a study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields. Jessica originally joins for the money, thinking all she has to do is answer a few questions on a computer. But when the tests start becoming real life assignments, Jessica finds herself wrapped up in a twisted potential murder mystery. You never know who to trust. One second someone seems innocent the next they're not. Can you even trust the main character? I enjoyed reading the book, but was wishing for more suspense.

Goodreads review here.

Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs   
     Released 9/3/16
     Read from: Jan 12, 2018- Jan 17, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     I think all fans of Miss Peregrine, or anyone who likes fantasy short stories or fairytales, will enjoy this bonus book to the series. We got to hear the tales that peculiar children were told as kids, just like we were told fairytales and nursery rhymes as kids. It was fun. I'm not going to supply a like to a full review for this one because the Goodreads review is basically the same as that short blurb I already wrote :)

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer    
     Released 4/3/18
     Read from: Dec 21, 2018- Jan 19, 2019
     Format: Library Audiobook CD
     Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

     If you saw my last post about my first 1 star read of 2019, you already know how I felt about that book. The Goodreads review is the exact same as the blog post I wrote on that. Link to that is here. This book was made out to be a good read for feminists, or people with interest in the feminist movement. It was not one I'd typically pick up, but I gave it a try since I had been seeing a lot of it online lately. The synopsis tells you that the book is about Greer Kadetsky, and how she meets someone who becomes her idol in college. A leader in the feminist movement. And her experiences during and after college becoming a well known author and speaker in the feminist movement as well. I had a lot of problems with this book, as you'll see in my review on this bog, and personally would not recommend it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try like I did!

The Forgotten Filly by Joanna Campbell 
     Released 6/3/98
     Read from: Jan 18, 2019- Jan 20, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     I didn't write much of a review on this book for Goodreads either. It's a standalone novel in the Thoroughbred series, about a girl named Joelle whose beloved horse Dancer dies while birthing her first foal. It was Joelle's idea to breed Dancer, and her parents made her agree that Dancer and the foal's care and training would be 100% her responsibility. But after Dancer dies, Joelle blames her death on the filly and can't bring herself to spend time around here at first at all. She mopes for a long time and eventually her parents have enough and make her start training her, but she dead it very halfheartedly. Instead, her physically handicapped younger brother begins to start working with, and bonding with the filly. Her parents get fed up and start looking into selling the filly, and Joelle doesn't even care. 

     I didn’t dislike it but I didn’t really like it all that much until the end when an interesting and dangerous turn of events occurs. Unfortunately most of the story was focused on Joelle moping and being miserable. We watched Jeff, her younger brother, make progress and we watched her form a relationship with Devin, the veterinarian's son. I was hoping to see things turn around in relation to the filly earlier on so that we could see what becomes of her obviously great potential. But because this is a stand alone book I don’t think we’ll ever find out. I don't highly recommend it, but I don't regret having read it, so not bad. Just an average book.

My Sister, the serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 
     Released 11/20/18
     Read from: Jan 17, 2018- Jan 21, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     I think I missed the point with this book, as I often do with anything labeled as a satire. It's about Korede, a nurse in Nigeria, who has a beautiful younger sister named Ayoola that everyone loves. Only thing is, Ayoola kills all her boyfriends. And gets away with it, thanks to the help of her sister. When Ayoola starts dating Korede's crush is where things go wrong. She doesn't want her sister to kill him obviously, but she cares about and wants to support her sister too. 

    The concept of the book intrigued me, but the ending was disappointing. Nothing felt resolved. I'm also not supplying a link to Goodreads for this one either, since I wrote more here! LOL

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
     Released 6/5/18
     Read from: Jan 20, 2018- Jan 217 2019
     Format: Print (library9

     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     This book is the sequel to "Beartown," but you don't necessarily need to read it before reading this one. I think you may get more of a connection to the plot and the characters if you do though. It picks off where the last book left off, and you watch them try to rebuild the hockey team, and continue to fight a rivalry with Hed. In a way though, it's worse, because now ex-Beartown players are playing for Hed. People loved this series, but I just didn't. Still holding onto my love for the author though after one of my favorite books ever, "A Man Called Ove." That book, I will never stop recommending. 

Goodreads review here.

 The Amateurs by Sara Shepard
     Released 11/1/16
     Read from: Jan 121 2018- Jan 29, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

    I really enjoyed this book. Pretty Little Liars fans will love this. It's a book about a girl named Seneca, who's mother was killed, and the crime was never solved. She is really into an amateur cold case site, and ends up arranging to meet up a friend she met on the website, Maddy, because he lives in Dexby, CT, a town where the older sister (Helena) of one of her classmates was killed and the body found years later. Again, this case was never solved. They wind up working to solve the mystery with Maddy's step-sister, Brett, another one of Maddy's friends from the website, and Aerin, the younger sister of Helena. It has the exact same feel as Sara Shepards other books, but a different storyline, and it kept me interested and wanting to find out what happened next.

Goodreads review here.

What I'm Reading Now
1) All the Light We Cannot See (CD audiobook) by Anthony Doerr
     Released 5/6/14

     Started listening: Jan 23, 2019

     I'm a historical fiction fan, and this was a book I kept seeing so I decided to give it a try. I'm about halfway through now and to be honest, I'm considering not finishing it if the library due date comes up and I'm not done :/ It's just not holding my attention and I keep zoning out.

2) The Woman in Cabin 10 (Overdrive Audiobook) by Ruth Ware
     Released 7/19/16
     Started listening: Jan 29, 2019

     Ruth Ware is a popular author right now, and this is my third book by her. So far I'm really not loving her. I was really excited about this book at first, but it slowly lost my interest more and more as the book went on. I'm about 75% through now and FINALLY we just found something out in relation to the mystery.

3) Jahanara: Princess of Princesses
     Released 9/1/02
     Started reading: Feb 5, 2019

     I just started this last night and so far am liking the writing style, and the information we've been given to set up the story. I'm reading a lot of historical fiction in order right now, grouping together series like this one, Dear America, American Girl, etc into an ongoing series that I'm reading in chronological order. I just finished reading a few books about the earliest settlers in the new world, and now we're heading over to what was happening in India in 1627. While the early colonists were struggling to feed themselves in crude houses, other areas of the world were very developed. It's interesting to go back and forth to see what was happening elsewhere, while our young country was just being born. 

4) Insight Guides: Hawaii
     Released 9/1/14
     Started reading: Jan 27, 2019

   

     Because I'm going to Hawaii for my honeymoon in May and need to learn about its history and what kinds of things we get to do there!! :)